the duchess will see you now

If You’re Proud, Sprout it Out Loud

Remember the garden that Yim and I planned? Well, we got it started, and Yimmy called me tonight with the most incredible news: WE HAVE SPROUTS!! I can’t believe my own excitement, but it’s true; I am so happy over our little radish and lettuce sprouts already. As Tuesdays are our gardening days, I would have been out on the land with him today, but alas, Lord Mycol and I both had dentist appointments. What good is good food if you don’t have good teeth to chew it with, right? Also, the day was mostly drizzly, and with the early crops in, there isn’t much to do until the weather turns. What I do want to get done before week’s end is sow a second crop of lettuces in planting boxes at the Estate. If I time succession sowing properly, we could have fresh salads every week for a good bit of the summer. Secondly, I want to get out to Yim’s and put a protective net over our plot so the varmints don’t bite our little shoots off at the quick.

Last month all we had of a garden was a bag of seeds.

And a plot of land.

Then, on March 30th we finally broke ground.

Digging up the sod was harder than I expected. Yim vocalized what was going through my head when he asked, “How many times do you think we’ll ever have to start a garden from scratch again?” I said, “At least once more.”

We filled the wheel barrow with the clumps of sod and Yimmy hauled them to the corner of the yard where we are creating a compost pile.

He said that by the end of the day he estimates we moved about a ton of dirt and grass.

I use the term “we” loosely, since Yimmy is way stronger than me and able to work at least twice as fast. Note the size of the plot he has cleared compared to the smaller one on the right, which is the area I was working. Eventually, we got it done.

By the end of the day we thought we’d be exhausted and sore. On the contrary, we were exhilirated and our muscles were warm and loose instead of tight and tense. Our garden plot measures about 10 x 15 and it is too small! We want more, more, more. The problems we’ve run into are rocks and shade. Little did we realize that less than 6 inches below the surface in some areas there is a shelf of sandstone or shale. It is easy enough to shatter with the pick-axe, but then you are left with 2 inch pieces of rock by the dozens throughout the soil and just when you think you could rally the patience to sort it all out by hand, you realize there is another shelf of stone another inch further down. The shade problem is something we are anticipating. See the shadows from the tree? Well, the tree has no leaves as of yet, and so the garden plot gets plenty of sun. Come summer, that tree will be full of foliage and maybe our little vegetable garden will be strained for sunlight.

The solutions are simple. We did the best we could to rid the soil of stone to a deep enough level for our roots. We are planning carefully which crops will go where, depending on the nature of the ground. We called someone to come see about trimming or removing the tree before it starts to shade our crops. And for expansion, we are going to build an above ground box-garden on the other side of the yard. Since hot weather crops won’t go into the ground for a bit, we’ve still got time.

Believe it or not, our small garden area boasts the shallow, rocky spot, a rich, loose, digable area, and the far end is very clay-ey with tendrils of the tree’s root system reaching over for more moisture. Spending the day in the dirt, digging with my spade, pointed my mind to thoughts of my grandfather. When I felt frustrated over the difficulties of ripping into the grass’ root system and the rocks, I thought of Tata and everyone in Roccacinquemiglia or anywhere else, for that matter, who had no choice but to try to work the land they were given, despite the conditions, because it made the difference in whether they would feed themselves and their families or not. The soil in R5M is filled with large, heavy rocks that had to be dug out and removed. I have always admired my grandparents for their lives, their lifestyles, and what they’d endured. Working for merely one day in the garden I share with Yim, because I wanted to, not because I had to, was enough to remind me of the virtues of a slow and peaceful life, without the stress of do or die, that makes a frugal farmer a wise man and a role model. To be outdoors with the birdsongs floating in my ear, the breeze in my hair, the sun on my back and the sweat on my brow, working side by side with a man who wants this just as much as I do; that is joy. We hardly speak while we work and I suspect it is because we are both consumed with thoughts and memories of everything that is good now, was good then, and was good before we ever were. I watched a terrible Italian game show with my grandfather once. Beautiful, full-breasted women paraded onto the stage in bathrobes and one by one they dropped their robes to the floor. The camera lingered on their nude bodies before they climbed aboard massage tables to get rubbed down by female massage therapists in white clinical jackets. My grandfather said that people who worked from sun-up to sun-down in a field never needed a massage; only people who sat at desk jobs all day needed massages. And that is how his mind worked. He focused on the truly shocking.

To own a bit of ground, to scratch it with a hoe, to plant seeds, and watch the renewal of life — this is the commonest delight of the race, the most satisfactory thing a man can do. — Warner

I truly loved both of your grandparents(my in-laws) and I appreciate your grandfather’s drift about messages.But what I want to know is what did he say when the robes hit the floor. Now that would be a worth hearing!

[…] our lettuces, we planted radishes. We are going to have the best salads this year. If you read yesterday’s post you’ll know that this Tuesday I was unable to make it out to the garden. Ever since we put […]